NEDERLAND — When the ball left the Recht Field turf on the opening kickoff Friday night, Nederland’s Beth Buglione made history as the first female head football coach in the state of Colorado.

Though her Panthers suited up just nine players for the eight-man contest and lost 44-13 to the Justice Phoenix, and while Buglione preferred that the attention be focused on her players’ season-opening effort, the first-year coach couldn’t escape the gravity surrounding the historic moment.

“It’s a historic first and it’s also my first time as a head coach, period,” Buglione said. “That moment wasn’t lost on me. Right as the ball was getting kicked, my assistant coach goes, ‘OK, coach. That’s history right there. I’m just so grateful to be in this position and to be able to work with these amazing kids. Right now, my heart is just more grateful than anything.

“I challenge any team in the country to do what these kids did tonight, playing ironman football. They didn’t complain. I had a few kids who got nicked up but they stayed in there and gutted it out and I’m super proud of them for that.”

The Panthers (0-2) were forced to forfeit their first game of the season because they did not have enough players who had completed the requisite number of practices to be eligible for competition. With just enough teammates to take the field against the Phoenix (1-0) on Friday, junior Taylor Hoffman took it upon himself to keep his team in the game as long as he could.